Since 2004, SiteGround is providing an excellent customer service experience with its high-quality offerings. The excellent uptime, speed, and a wide variety of plans are other advantages attached to SiteGround hosting.
I used to recommend SiteGround for startups and small businesses earlier because of its affordable pricing structure. But the latest Siteground price increase left it more suitable for mid-level businesses and bloggers who have started receiving income from their blogs.
Let us find out everything about this rise in SiteGround’s plan pricing.
When did SiteGround increase its hosting prices?
SiteGround made an announcement on June 15th, 2020 about the increase in its plan pricing.
As per the new rules, both the existing and new customers had to pay according to the revised prices with effect from June 18th, 2020.
SiteGround hosting plan prices
SiteGround has changed the pricing of all its shared hosting plans, namely, StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. Both the introductory and renewal prices have seen a rise. The price rise, therefore, impacts both the new and existing customers.
To compare the changes in prices, let us have a look at the pre-increment prices along with the post-increment prices here:
Changes in introductory prices
Introductory prices are the costs borne for the first payment term. A rise in these prices has an impact only on new customers. The introductory prices for different hosting plans of SiteGround looked like this before the change:
These prices have been updated to the following after the change:
As you can observe from the above screenshots, there is a sharp rise in the prices of all the hosting plans. For easier comparison, here is a table showing the old prices, new prices, and also the Siteground renewal price increase.
| Hosting Plans | Old Introductory Prices | New Introductory Prices | Increase in value | Increase in % |
| StartUp | $3.95 | $6.99 | $3.04 | 76.96% |
| GrowBig | $5.95 | $9.99 | $4.04 | 67.90% |
| GoGeek | $11.95 | $14.99 | $3.04 | 25.44% |
Changes in renewal prices
Renewal prices are the charges paid after the end of the first term. A rise in these prices has a direct impact on the existing customers and an indirect impact on the new ones. The renewal prices for all the hosting plans have also been hiked by SiteGround. These prices looked like this before the changes were made:
These prices have been updated to the following after the change:
From the above screenshots, you can notice a major increase in the prices of all the hosting plans. For easier comparison, check out this table showing the old prices, new prices, and the price increment.
| Hosting Plans | Old Renewal Prices | New Renewal Prices | Increase in value | Increase in % |
| StartUp | $11.95 | $14.99 | $3.04 | 25.44% |
| GrowBig | $19.95 | $24.99 | $5.04 | 25.26% |
| GoGeek | $34.95 | $39.99 | $5.04 | 14.42% |
Starting from 2021, due to a lot of complaints a massive drop in sales, SiteGround decided to lower their entry prices to the following:
Why did SiteGround increase its hosting prices?
SiteGround started hosting a part of its infrastructure on the Google Cloud Platform. This change offered many benefits to its customers because of the improved technology. Since these infrastructural changes started in the middle of February 2020, many people were expecting a rise in prices.
Though the company never shared a reason for rising its hosting prices, it is widely believed that improvement in technology in the form of infrastructural change is the cause of price increment.
With such a major increase in the prices of shared hosting offered by SiteGround, it is wiser to look for better options at the same or lower prices. VPS hosting is one such alternative that is more secure and flexible than shared hosting.
In this type of web hosting, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is allotted for your website which is a part of a dedicated server. This server space is not shared with other users and allows your website to fully utilize the resources of the allotted server portion.
Your website won’t be competing with other sites for resources as in the case of shared hosting. As a result, the speed and performance of your website are improved.
As for the pricing aspect, you can secure a VPS hosting for your website at a price of around $5 per month. VULTR is one of the best companies providing “unmanaged VPS hosting”.
If, however, you are not aware of how to manage a server, you can go for a “managed VPS” hosting plan offered by Cloudways. The host allows you to choose the company of your choice from the ones mentioned above. It, then, provides you with an easy-to-use interface and takes care of all the management aspects.
You can grab a basic VPS hosting plan at just $10 per month with Cloudways. It is still cheaper than the current renewal price of the base plan offered by SiteGround and will leave you with a saving of $4.99 ($14.99 – $10) each month. The benefit of increased loading speed, more privacy, and added security shall not be ignored.
Budget alternatives to SiteGround
If you are not ready for VPS hosting yet and would like to secure a shared hosting plan, looking for budget options is the best choice. After the SiteGround price increase, I no longer recommend it for absolute beginners.
However, if you don’t have an issue with spending a little extra for better speed and improved features, it is still the best hosting service for all your needs.
If, however, you are price conscious like me, a variety of alternatives to SiteGround are available for your hosting needs. Here are the best ones among them:
1. DreamHost – My Top recommendation
DreamHost is my top recommendation because of the plan prices and corresponding features it offers. With an official recommendation from WordPress, DreamHost can be completely trusted for providing high-quality services such as:
- Affordable and “Prices remain the same for life”
- Fast Servers
- Free Domain & SSL certificate
- Free SSL certificate
- 97-day money-back guarantee
Whether you are a beginner or an advanced-level user, DreamHost has all the features to serve your needs.
Not only that, but DreamHost is more popular than SiteGround even though both the hosts are among the three web hosts.
DreamHost is Officially Recommended by WordPress.
2. Cloudways – Best for extreme Speed & Privacy
Cloudways offers plenty of features for the tech junkie in you. It provides Free migration service and excellent performance at budget prices to serve the needs of both beginners and professionals.
Unlike other hosts, Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial for all its plans without asking for your credit card details. Additionally, it doesn’t charge you hefty amounts for the renewal of hosting plans, unlike its competitors.
With monthly payment plans, you can decide to pay as you go with Cloudways. The availability of different hosting plans makes it possible for you to scale as your website grows.
3. HostGator – The most affordable alternative
With a 99.9% uptime guarantee, free website migration, unlimited storage, a free domain with long-term hosting plans, and a free SSL certificate, HostGator has so much to offer. The host also offers free website content migration within 30 days of signing up along with one free domain transfer.
You can grab the basic hosting plan at just $2.75 per month with HostGator. Additionally, different hosting plans with additional features make it easy for you to scale as your website grows. If you are unsure about committing long-term, you can also buy a monthly hosting plan with HostGator.
At the same time, the host also offers a 45-day money-back guarantee in case you do not like its hosting services. It allows you to ensure the suitability of HostGator for your needs almost free of cost.
What to do next?
If you do not want to pay hefty amounts as renewal charges with SiteGround anymore, here are the steps to follow:
- Disable the renewal of your hosting with SiteGround.
- Choose the most suitable hosting service provider for your needs.
- Create an offline backup of all your website data including files, email, and databases to prevent any permanent data loss in case of a mishappening.
- Inform your website visitors about the expected downtime by routing them to a landing page containing the necessary announcement.
- Migrate your website data to the new host.
- Launch your new website.
- Check your newly migrated website for any SEO errors.
For an easier migration, you can choose a host that takes care of the whole process either for free, like HostGator, or at an additional cost.
Additionally, you can also prevent loss of business due to website downtime during migration by selecting a host that ensures to keep your website up and running even during the migration process.
Cloudways is one such host that offers both free website migration services and guarantees to keep your website online while transferring the data with the best performance overall.
Summing Up
SiteGround is among the best hosting service providers but the rise in its plan prices might not go well with your budget. This price hike has turned the host from a budget to a mid-range hosting service provider.
If you are comfortable with SiteGround and price is not a concern for you, there is no reason to find a new host. However, if you would like to migrate your website to a new web host, the alternatives discussed above will help you find the best one.
In my opinion, switching to a VPS is the best option as you can receive better privacy and performance at cheaper costs.
Feel free to ask me if you have any questions on the subject.
